Late-night legend David Letterman knocked leaders at CBS and its parent company as "lying weasels" in a new interview with The New York Times where he called BS on claims "Late Night with Stephen Colbert" was canceled for purely financial reasons.
"He was dumped because the people selling the network to Skydance said, 'Oh no, there's not going to be any trouble with that guy,'" Letterman said. "'We're going to take care of the show. We're just going to throw that into the deal. When will the ink on the check dry?'"
"I'm just going to go on record as saying: They're lying," he went on.
Colbert's time as host of "The Late Show," a mantle that belonged to Letterman for 22 years, will come to an end this month.
When CBS announced it was shelving its flagship late-night show last July, the network said shuttering the program was "purely a financial decision" made based on the "challenging backdrop in late night."
The move came in the middle of CBS parent company Paramount and Skydance's efforts to have its $8 billion merger approved by the Federal Communications Commission, leading many media watchers to wonder if canning Colbert was meant to appease President Donald Trump.
Asked for his initial thoughts after learning about "The Late Show's" cancellation, Letterman said, "Disbelief."
Though his first impulse was to ask himself, "What the hell have they done to Stephen Colbert?" he said, his own history with the show came soon after.
"Wait a minute, this used to be my show," he remembered wondering. "It's like driving by your old neighborhood and realizing that where you used to live, they're putting up an adult bookstore."
While Letterman was unsparing in his criticism of CBS, he did admit the world of late night was struggling, so much that he admitted he'd be surprised if many of the after-dark chat shows could survive for much longer.
Hedging a bit, the veteran comedian and interviewer added, "Well, maybe specific shows. I don't think it'll ever go away because it's just the best. It's humans talking to humans."
